Press for pressing leather and similar soft material



H, N. STIJLCKEN PRESS Fon PnEssING LEATHER AND nl zum soF'r MATERIAL Filed hb; '7, 1924 f IIII ..0 L T l 1 l 1 l f l l 1 l- \IH..L Tl! I l l l l l I l l l l l I l. r l I l l IIL ,A y

by `;/W/ @7 sept. 29, 1925.

. allows a pressure medium (compressed wa- Pavtented Sept. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IIINRICH NIKOLAUS STLCKEN, OF ALTONA-O'TTENSEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOB THE FIRM 0F JOHS. KBAUSE G. M. B. H., OF ALTONA-OTTENSEN, GERMANY.

PnEss Fon. rnnssING LEATHER AND SIMILAR soFT MATERIAL.

Application l'ed February 7, 1924. Serial No. 691,279.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HINRIGH NIKoLAUs STLGKEN, citizen of Germany, residin at Altona-Ottensen, Siemensstrasse 13, ermany, have invente certain new and useful Improvements in a Press for Pressing Leather and Similar Soft Material, of which the following is a specification.

Presses used heretofore for ironing, smoothing, embossing or otherwise pressing leather, fabric or similar soft materials, con-- sist as a rule of two pressing bodies or plates, which move vertically against one another, and of which the upper one is operated by mechanical, and the lower by hydraulic means. The lower press plate is connected with a piston which moves in a vertically fixed cylinder, and there is no diliiculty to` give such parts a simple shape and to account for a high pressure. ,The conditions are quite different with regard to the supporting parts of the upper press plate. Very powerful and strong levers are necessary for this purpose, such a lever is journaled between its ends and is engaged with its free end also by powerful and strong pressure members. or shaft of this strong lever' as well as the connection with the pressure member is subjected to high pressure owing to which there is a very great wear and which not only strains the supporting bracket but also the pressure member to a high degree, and this is the reason that the movable parts as well as the xed parts must be given an extraordinary powerful construction. Y

-The object of the present invention is to avoid the drawbacks stated above by constructing the upper press plate as a fixed part of the press frame, while the necessary movement is given alone to the lower pressing body of the press plate. yEven in this case the lower press plate can. be connected with orsup'ported by a piston moving in a vertical cylinder. .However, besides it, instead of the upper press plate, is connected with driving rods driven from a'suitable source of force, adapted to cause lpiand down-movements mechanically. ese rods moreover are 1n operative connection lwith .a valve which, when opened,

ter) to enter the cylinder or to create a high pressure in the cylinder in the last moment, pressing the lower press plate The pivot pin g against theI upper press plate with increased force and thus highly compressing the intermediate material. lf water is used as the .pressure medium the valve interposed in the pipes connected with the cylinder is so constructed that it will be closed, just when the movable press plate comes in its highest position, so as to allow the compressed water within the cylinder to exert the necessary pressure. Preferably the pipe for the compressed water will .be formed by the circulation pipe of a pump including also a reservoir. In the upper movement of vthe piston, when driven positively by lthe vmounted on a piston d, which fits in the cylinder e. AUpon both sides the press plate c is engaged b-y push rods f guided on the cylinder e itself and on the frame b. Each rod f is connected with a lever g, z' which is journaled on the pivot h to move the rods f up and down. The free end of the arm i of each lever g, z' is connected by a rod c with the crank disk m. One of the leversv g, i is also adapted to operate the spring pressed spindle n of a, valve'o, which is larranged in the circulation pipe p of the pump g. The valve plug o is normally spring pressed to its closing position by means of a spring n', and is opened by pressure on the end n of spindle n. By a branch pipe r the circulation pipe is connected on its pressure side with the cylindere. The pressurepart of this circulation pipe projects into the reservoir ,-s, which at its bottom is also connected with the suction part of the circulation pipe. The pump is driven by a continuously rotating shaft t, to which is loosely mountedA a gear wheel o, that is adapted to be coupled with the shaft t by any known clutch u and may be driven by a second ar 'v' mounted on the shaft of the crank m. The shaft t may be driven compressed water.

continuousl by any known means, for instance by e aid of a belt t and pulley t2. The throwing in or lout of gear of the clutch uis carried out by a rod lw, which connects the clutch arm lw with an arm wz rotatably mounted on the frame b. The arm 'w2 is in connection with a pawl y, which may be operated by a hand lever :v and is adapted to engage gaps m in the rim of the crank disk m. y the spring which is attached with one end tothe arm y of the pawl y, and with its other end to a fixed part of the frame, the pawl will bear against the rim of the crank disk m, when the hand lever is released. The pawl will drop into one of the gaps m as soon as it coincides with it. The locking device formed by the pawl' y and the gaps fm of the crank disk m wil act, when the press plate c is either in its lowest or in its highest position. The connection of the locklng device y, m with the clutch u by the rod rw is so constructed, that in the utmost positions of the press plate the clutch is out of gear.

By drawing the hand lever downwards the awl y will be released from the gapm of t e crank disk m against the tension of the spring a; At the same time-by the means of the members 'm2, rw and w theA clutch u is thrown into gear, and thus by the aid of the gear lv, /v the crankdisk m is set to rotate, and thus by means of the members lc, z', g, f the lower press plate is raised. The piston d sucks water from the reservoir e by the circulation pipe into the cylinder e until the piston is approximately in its highest position, during which time the pump g, even if constantly operating does not produce any wing to the described movement of the membersk, z', g, f the valve spindle 'n is allowed to move downwardl by the tension of its sprin The valve o 1s so constructed, that it is t ereby closed, sothat the pump g now forces compressed water into the cylinder e and the piston c will now compress the fabric or leather between the lower and the upper press plate. After initiating the movement of the parts described above'the hand lever mmay be released, the sprin z acting on the pawl y, to allow it to slide on the rim of the disk m and to engage'the second gap m as soon as this passes it. The consequence is, that the crank disk m in this position will be locked and at the same time the clutch uis thrown out of gear. The hydraulic pressure on the leather between the two press plates can be upheld until the halidlever a: is again turned down, whereupon movement of the parts set in in opposite direction to that described. Y There is a certain amount .of pla between the connection of the rod f and t e press-plate c, so 'that bythe initial return movement of the` members/2,71, vg the press plate to ether with the piston will not follow imme iately, and

therefore the valve 0 will be opened to allow the compressed water to escape to such an extent that below the piston d no pressure exists. The rod f having moved downward to the amount of the play in its further movement draws with it the piston d and the press plate c and the valve o, being now opened, the water in the cylinder is driven out by way of the circulation pipe into the reservoir s. In this case also the hand lever .fr can be released as soon as the described motion has set in, so that the pawl y by the aid of the spring a drops into the gap m as soon as it passes it, at which time the pressplate c has come into its lowest position, and the clutch u is again thrown out of gear to stop the movements of the operating members of the press.

I claim 1. A press for pressing leather and similar soft materialf comprising an upper ixed press plate and a lower vertically movable press plate arranged to be operated by mechanical means and also by hydraulic means and means for automatically controlling the hydraulic means by motion of the mechanical means.

2. A press for pressing leather and simi- Llarsoft material comprising an upper fixed press plate and a vertically movable4 lower press plate, a frame to which the said upper press plate is attached, a vertical cylinder also attached to the said frame, a piston fitting to and movable within the cylinder and carrying the saidmovable press plate, means to mechanically move the piston carrying the lower press plate to move vertically and means automatically controlled to compress the medium within the cylinder when the piston is approximately in its highest position.

3. A press for pressing leather and similar soft material comprising an upperixed press plate and a vertically movable lower p ress plate, a frame to which the said upper press plate is attached, a vertical cylinderv also attached to the said frame, a piston fitting to and movable within the cylinder and carrying the said movable press plate operating members adapted to raise and lower the piston carrying the lower press plate, pipes connected vwith the cylinder adapted to allow a liquid" medium to enter and escape'from the c linder, a valve and a pump connected wit the said pipe and means to automatically close Athe valve when the said piston is approximately in its 'highest position thus allowing the pump to compress the liquid medium within the said pipe communicating with the cylinder so as to produce high pressure within the cylinder.

4. A press for pressing leather and'similar soft material comprising an upper fixed press plate and a vertically movablelower press plate, a frame to which the said upper press plate is attached, a vertical cylinder also attached to the said frame, a piston fitting to and movable within the cylinder and carrying the said movable press plate, operating members adapted to raise and lower the piston carrying the lower ress plate pipes connected with the cyllnder adapted to allow a liquid medium to enter and escape from the cylinder, a valve and a pump connected with the said pipe and means operated by the said o erating member to close the valve when the said piston isapproximately in its highest position allowing the pump to compress the liquid medium within the said pipe communicating with the cylinder so as to produce high pressure within the cylinder.

5. A press for pressing leather and similar soft material comprising an upper fixed press plate and a vertically movable lower` press plate, a frame to which the said upper press plate is attached, a vertical cylinder also attached to the said frame, a piston fitting to and movable within the cylinder and carrying the said movable press plate, operating members adapted to raise and lower the piston carrying the lower press plate, a circulation pipe, a branch pipe connecting the said cylinder with said circulation pipe, a pump anda reservoir within the circuit of said circulation pipeand valve inthe circulation pipe intermediate of the said `branch pipe and the reservoir operated by the said operating member to close the valve when i the said piston is approximately in its highlar soft material comprising an upper fixed press plate and a vertically movable lower press plate, a frame to which the said up-l per press plate is attached, a vertical cylinder also attached to the said frame, a iston' fitting to and movable within the cy der and carrying the said movable press plate, operating members adapted to raise and lower the piston carrying the lower press plate, pipes connected with the cylmder adapted to allow a liquid medium to enter and escape from the cylinder, a valve and a pump connected with the said pipe and means operated by the said o eratlng mem. berto close the valve when the said piston is approximately in its highest position allowing the pump to compress the liquid medium within the said pipe communicating with the said cylinder, so as to produce high pressure within the cylinder, a certain amount of play being provided in the said operating members to raise and lower the piston, so as to allow the valve to be closed on the return movement of the said o erating members and to allow compresse 4medium to escape before the piston and the lower press plate is positively moved downwards.

HINRICH NIKOLAUS STLCKEN. 

